ESA face to face meet for anxiety/depression

Hi all

I am in the process of completing my ESA50 due to suffering from severe anxiety and depression. I have had to request paper copies of the forms due to having real trouble speaking on the phone.
However, the thought of having to attend a face to face 'medical' to complete my claim is absolutely terrifying. I honestly don't think I would be able to turn up, even with support of family. Is there any point mentioning this in my form or is this something that everyone has to go through?


Also, a quick related issue. As I applied via a paper form, I was obviously not invited to apply for housing benefit at the same time (which I have subsequently found out is what generally happens) so have had to apply a month or two later. I requested it to be backdated but this was refused, which I find pretty unfair. Does anyone have any experience on appealing this kind of decision?

Thank you in advance.

Hi and Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

Whether or not you are called for a face2face assessment depends entirely on whether the assessor feels s/he has enough information to make a recommendation to DWP without seeing you.

To give yourself the best chance of an award being made on paper only, you need to fill out the ESA50 in detail and, in particular, using language that mirrors that of the DWP. In addition, you should sent in any supporting evidence you have rather than hoping that your medics will be contacted (which is quite unusual).

Don't forget to make full use of our ESA guide

ESA claims and appeals

May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about your PIP without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to do this as it makes things much easier for us - and I hope you will find it useful too

I can't find any info in the guides regarding obtaining a letter of support from your GP.

I spoke to a doctor via triage yesterday but they pretty much brushed me off, saying that they would charge for it and I would need to go in and speak to reception about it. Clearly going into reception and speaking to them is the last thing I am able to do - especially seeing as the receptionists at my current GP aren't exactly blessed with top notch communication skills.

Has anyone any experience of asking for a GP letter of supprt, and is there any specific way of me asking for such a thing?

My deadline is this coming Friday so I am in a mad panic now trying to get this letter sorted.

Many thanks.

Hi rrw,

Some GP's refuse to provide a letter of support at all. They are entitled to do this as it is not part of their NHS contract. Those that do provide this support are entitled to make a charge.

This is a copy of a comment that Gordon made to another member a few minutes ago. I think you might find it helpful.

[quote]With regard the template, email the B&W office, I prepared a template for the PIP Descriptors which should have been published by now, ask for a copy, The format is very simple, just the Descriptors with a comment box, give the sheets that you think are relevant to your problems to your GP.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [/quote]

Mrs Hurtyback wrote: Hi rrw,

Some GP's refuse to provide a letter of support at all. They are entitled to do this as it is not part of their NHS contract. Those that do provide this support are entitled to make a charge.

This is a copy of a comment that Gordon made to another member a few minutes ago. I think you might find it helpful.

With regard the template, email the B&W office, I prepared a template for the PIP Descriptors which should have been published by now, ask for a copy, The format is very simple, just the Descriptors with a comment box, give the sheets that you think are relevant to your problems to your GP.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hi, thank you for your replies, much appreciated.

Apologies but I'm not sure I understand the relevance of the quote from Gordon. I'm not claiming PIP. Sorry to be a pain, I'm just a little confused!

Is the lack of a letter of support from my GP likely to make a huge difference in my claim? I find it baffling that a GP is under no obligation to provide something, seeing as they are, in many cases, the only people with knowledge of someone's circumstances.

Oops! The topic clearly relates to ESA, please forgive me!

In which case, Gordon's comment isn't relevant at all

We tend to suggest that you present your GP with a copy of the ESA descriptors, with points removed, and ask them to comment as they see fit.

A note saying 'Mr R is completely unable to work' will be next to useless. The more reference to the descriptors, the better.